Your Stuck Type playbook
I'm going to be honest with you, because I've been exactly here — I was burnt out for a solid six months, and it did not look like the Instagram version where you take a bath, light a candle and you're magically cured. You've half-confused being busy with getting somewhere. The fix isn't doing more.
Your calendar's rammed, you're the one holding it all together, and somehow the stuff that would actually move your career — or your happiness — never gets touched. Don't mistake movement for progress. And it isn't sustainable; output drops off a cliff after about 50 hours a week (Denmark works 38 and keeps topping the happiness charts, funnily enough). Let's go.
If you're anything like me, you're a perfectionist ramming 150% into everything, and it's frying you. Here's what I had to accept: if I drop to about 90% on the stuff that doesn't matter, the work is still great to everyone else — my partners never noticed the difference. Give yourself permission to lower the bar on the things that don't count, so you've got something left for the things that do.
It takes about 23 minutes to properly focus again every time you switch tasks — so a day of hopping meeting-to-meeting means you basically never do deep work. I theme my day: meetings in the afternoon, mornings kept for focus with zero distractions. Two hours of proper focus beats a whole day of firefighting.
The problem with being good is everyone wants a piece of you — and saying yes to one thing drags you into three others. That domino effect is exactly what burns you out. I woke up one day and realised I was available for everyone, all the time, and never for myself. So: close the laptop at 6, get work email off your phone at weekends, and tell your manager when something needs taking off your plate. You get more respect standing up for yourself than quietly drowning — and you don't owe anyone a long explanation for it.
People think curing burnout means doing less. Actually it's doing less of the wrong things and more of the right ones — the stuff that gives you energy back. Jobcraft where you can: pull your work towards the bits you actually enjoy, and add variety so every day isn't the same grind.
And if you're properly in it — talk to someone. When I was breaking down, I sat my mates down and said it out loud, and honestly that was the turning point. It's okay to not be okay.
— Kajol, your corporate aunty 👋🏽
That's what my 1:1 coaching is for — and the focus and email systems live in the Toolkit. This week coaching is 10% off with code STUCK10.
See coaching →The systems I mentioned live in the Corporate Toolkit & Templates. Not sure this was the real thing holding you back? Take the Promotion Blocker Diagnostic.
Most people are a bit of a blend, and each plan stands on its own. Have a read:
Good at your job, but the deciders can't see it.
You've outgrown the role and gone quietly bored.
Your impact has raced ahead of your pay.